Maintenance & Restoration

Panoz77 · 06-01-2011, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the reply, my wife is in love with little snoozy.

Mike Magee · 06-01-2011, 09:35 PM

cpaharley: "...still 7 months away..." ?

A month and a half, right? Wish I could come (but I'll be in Colorado then).

Nicholas, it's a camping trip that's a business expense, you need to take a bunch of these!

Ken C · 06-02-2011, 11:56 AM

Crossroads of America Rally in Indiana would sure be a good event too. 130 sites reserved already for this year. Here

LiL Snoozy · 06-03-2011, 09:24 AM

I have some good news for anyone who wants to see a Lil Snoozy up close and personal. I just made reservations for the Egg Camper meet in PA for the July 16 weekend! The Lil Snoozy will be at site 130 sometime mid-day Friday the 15th. I will have some information packets and my new, very essential, camera to document our first rally. Thank you very much for the invite, something tells me I am going to need a vacation by then!

Carol H · 06-03-2011, 09:43 AM

A Google map showing the location and dates of all the North America meets posted to this forum is located here: 2011 Rally Map - Google Maps

details of the meets can be found in the Rally/meet section of this forum.

Ken C · 06-10-2011, 03:25 PM

Small snoozy article Here

Ken C · 07-05-2011, 09:12 PM

Interesting, found on their site, "Hunting lodge--future designs will have option for a deer stand to be attached to the roof "

redwoodguy · 07-06-2011, 11:42 AM

It's quite a neat trailer - congrats! I am new to this market. I am just now looking into getting my first egg. I think your product is priced right, and it is a nice size and shape! My dislike would be the choice of all that oak wood inside. I have to wonder first off, why choose wood for a lightweight camper? Aren't there many modern engineered materials that would be lighter, stronger, and even cheaper?

I realize it is probably just a matter of personal tastes to some degree, but the weight question does intrigue me.

Mr. W. · 07-06-2011, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwoodguy

It's quite a neat trailer - congrats! I am new to this market. I am just now looking into getting my first egg. I think your product is priced right, and it is a nice size and shape! My dislike would be the choice of all that oak wood inside. I have to wonder first off, why choose wood for a lightweight camper? Aren't there many modern engineered materials that would be lighter, stronger, and even cheaper?

I realize it is probably just a matter of personal tastes to some degree, but the weight question does intrigue me.

First and foremost, it is, of course a matter of preference, and then of ease-of-manufacturing. Making the interior fixtures molded fiberglass or something similar, ala EggCamper or Burro, makes for either a very clean, bright, airy interior, or a cold, sterile, life-in-the-icebox interior. Depends on your point of view. A little nice woodwork really warms the place up (from my point of view).

Wood also communicates a feeling -- most people have wood (or wood-looking) cabinets at home, and having wood in the camper gives the emotional feeling of solidity and home-iness. My opinion.

Kiln-dried red oak is really pretty lightweight, and very strong for that weight. I don't think the weight premium is all that much. Fiberglass really isn't very lightweight -- it is just very strong, so you don't have to use a whole lot of it. However, for cabinets, it has to be laid up thicker than for the rounded shell, making it heavier.

Scamp once told me (off the cuff remark) that the Custom Deluxe woodwork package typically adds about 200 lbs to a camper, and that is mostly attributed to the additional cabinetry. Considering that they use particle board for their table top and seating, and that the Custom Deluxe has 6" of additional bed and table, I can believe it. I know that Scamp's birch woodwork is very, very lightweight.

Wood also gives the option of very easy customization for individual customers. Making up molds for fiberglass is expensive and time-consuming, whereas with wood you can just do whatever you want, cheaply and easily.

I realize that I am comparing wood with fiberglass, and what was actually referenced was "modern engineered materials". There are, indeed, some very intriguing modern materials, but most come at a high cost premium, or require special equipment and skills. Manufacturers tend to stick with what they know, and that leaves us pretty much with fiberglass and wood.

redwoodguy · 07-06-2011, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul E Henning

First and foremost, it is, of course a matter of preference, and then of ease-of-manufacturing. .....
I realize that I am comparing wood with fiberglass, and what was actually referenced was "modern engineered materials". There are, indeed, some very intriguing modern materials, but most come at a high cost premium, or require special equipment and skills. Manufacturers tend to stick with what they know, and that leaves us pretty much with fiberglass and wood.

Right. I was intrigued by the idea of what an "engineered solution" might be, and why no one has really tackled it (that I know of yet). Given that the whole dynamic often ends up being about weight and small car towing, I expected there'd be more emphasis on that criteria. e.g. the difference between #1500 and #1700 is rather important. I suppose these things are produced in very small numbers making any sort of hard tooling or technology prohibitively expensive.

I saw some picture or another a while back of aluminum cabinets, which would seem to make a great technical solution. It was probably a custom conversion done by some guy who knew sheet metal working or something.
Thanks for your good explanation.

Ken C · 07-06-2011, 05:50 PM

snoozy has a toy hauler coming that might be light enough for you. Livin-lite has all aluminum cabinets and construction with no wood at all.

honda03842 · 07-06-2011, 06:16 PM

Trying to save weight? Start with the frame and axle. Follow it up by getting rid of all the particle board.

I turned our table into pine and sit's so much easier to put up and down.

Norm

AndyGee · 07-06-2011, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honda03842

Trying to save weight? Start with the frame and axle. Follow it up by getting rid of all the particle board.

I turned our table into pine and sit's so much easier to put up and down.

Norm

Here here! It's time for aluminium frames and carbon fiber eggs. Well maybe not the carbon fiber. I just got an estimate to do 10 13' eggs in cf $15000 each min order 10 shell only

Scott H · 07-06-2011, 06:56 PM

I've got a friend who does cabinetry for high end jets. Lots of aluminum honeycomb and wood veneers. Looks like solid wood, opens and closes like a jewelry box, weighs nothing, and costs your first born child.

Tim Wood · 07-07-2011, 08:46 AM

Well just made reservations for Pa on the 15th so we will get to see the Snoozy. I also talked with the owner Nicholas's father, very nice fellow and answered all my questions. These look like a nice wave of the future camping trailer design, will be looking forward to seeing one in person.

Ken C · 07-07-2011, 09:34 AM

Can you ask if any other floorplans are in the works, like a dinette for four to sit or swivel chairs that were mentioned, thanks and have a safe trip.

Tim Wood · 07-09-2011, 09:10 AM

Ken, Yes I wrote your questions down.

BigLew · 07-15-2011, 10:24 PM

seeing the Snoozy parked in the campground here in PA. I'm hoping for a lot more photos of everyone enjoying their weekend. I'm surprised that no one has posted anything yet from the weekend outing here in the PA mountains. I know you couldn't ask for better weather!